Greater Bendigo council has hosed down concerns the minewater ponds at Woodvale could become a long-term toxic waste facility. “That would be regulated by the EPA (Environmental Protection Authority),” chief executive Craig Niemann said. “I’m sure they wouldn’t..

The deadly Ravenswood Calder Freeway and Calder Alternate intersection is still a State Government priority. As revealed by the Bendigo Weekly online, Greater Bendigo councillors and staff met with Victorian Roads Minister Terry Mulder this week. Mayor Lisa Ruffell led the delegation, which also..

By Rosemary Sorensen After a series of provocative exhibitions pushing the boundaries of the relationship between art and the viewer, Bendigo’s contemporary artspace is showcasing loveliness this month. The Wisdom of Birds, in La Trobe University Visual Arts Centre in View Street, features..

By JOEL PETERSON The City of Greater Bendigo’s proposed fees for junior sport have been amended in this week’s budget, one of a number of benefits to sport included for the 2013-14 financial year. The controversial plan, as reported in the Bendigo Weekly two weeks ago, would have re..

By Rosemary Sorensen One of Australia’s most admired actors will take part in this year’s Bendigo Writers Festival. Lisa McCune will be joined by producer and director Gus Howard, and children’s book author Christine Harris, for a session about turning a book into film. Ms Mc..

Girton Grammar rolled out a major curriculum initiative at a meeting of more than 150 community organisations, educators and businesses on Monday. In what has been a significant investment for Bendigo’s rapidly growing private school, Girton has introduced a program based on the concept of ..

Banksia investors caught in the failure of the company are likely to receive some payment before Christmas, the receivers announced today (Wednesday). "As BSL had substantial funds invested in liquid term deposits with major banks, we intend to make an early first payment to debenture holder..

All regional branches of Banksia Securities will close this Friday, including the office in Bendigo. Receivers McGrath Nicol announced the "rationalisation" of the finance company yesterday, with 47 staff made redundant. 37 staff at Kyabram and Melbourne are being retained in order to wo..

Sunday, November 11 Remembrance Day 10.45am Service RSL Soldiers Memorial Hall, Pall Mall, Bendigo Remembrance Day 10.45am Service, Eaglehawk Remembrance Day 10.45am Service, Kangaroo Flat..

Coalition State Higher Education Minister, Peter Hall, slammed the Labor Opposition this week for deliberately spreading false fears about the future of the Bendigo Institute of TAFE. In an angry address to State Parliament, Mr Hall said Bendigo TAFE had its proud beginnings 156 years ago. ..

JOBS, education and disability services were on the agenda when the Victorian Shadow Cabinet met in Bendigo this week. Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews and his 20-strong Shadow Ministerial team spent Wednesday and Thursday in town. They met with business leaders on Wednesday. Later ..

IT is the largest development the Greater Bendigo council has been involved in, and it is ready to go. Planning Minister Matthew Guy this week approved a planning amendment that will see the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal dismiss an appeal against the $25.8 million plan to build..

4km results 2012 No Name indicates a blank wrist tag Sophie Hawken 15.12 Kim Stevens 15.14 Leigh Browell 15.18 Matthew Heislers 15.21 Chris Horsfall 16.05 Teleah Hayes 16.06 No Name 16.06 Phillip Brown 16.16 Jack Baker 16.38 Jordan Boal 16.42 Lachl..

Bendigo Mother's Day Classic 2012 8km run results No name indicates un-named wrist tag Michael Bieleny 28.34 Adam Parker 29.25 Rhys Lias 29.58 C Feuerherdt 30.26 JohnWatson 30.46 Leigh Browell 31.09 Tim Laude..

THE Reserve Bank of Australia has slashed official interest rates by .5 of a per cent. Below is the statement released by RBA Governor Glenn Stevens: At its meeting today, the Board decided to lower the cash rate by 50 basis points to 3.75 per cent, effective 2 May 2012. This decis..

A Melbourne teacher who grew up barracking for Collingwood but wrote a novel where the protagonist adores Hawthorn has won the Vogel's Literary Award. Paul D Carter's novel Eleven Seasons is published today by Allen & Unwin. Set in the 1980s and 90s, it is about a teenage..

Another ANZAC Day gone, but don’t just file the thoughts away. For so many, it’s a lifetime of horror and sorrow. The focus has shifted a bit from ANZAC Cove into other areas where Australians fought and died, and finally last week the wrong encouraged by Peter Weir’s film Gall..

A SURGE in low socioeconomic students attending university shows reforms are developing the talent that will help drive a high skilled and productive economy, according to Tertiary Education Minister Chris Evans. Senator Chris Evans said for the first time, the number of university offers ma..

More great live blues music is coming to town tonight. Making their Bendigo debut, Castlemaine-based Appalachian-blues trio, The Sitting Ducks, will play live and acoustic in Chancery Lane, at El Gordo, as part of their weekly Blue Hour Friday. The band is filled with the energy, talent and..

By Jarvis Holt, YO Bendigo Indie rock band The Rubens have exploded on the music scene, receiving raving accolades. The three brothers and a mate formed their band in 2011. After gaining attention from Triple J Unearthed and placing 57th on Triple J’s Hottest 100 with the tr..

Catherine Shields big photographic work is, she says, about the role of photography and how we record our lives. But beneath that surface, it's also about despair and hurt, disappointment and heartbreak, all the turmoil that follows the wrench of loss. Deeply personal, Ms Shields work is..

HOT on the heels of the Contribution to Indigenous Broadcasting Award, presenter Anne Conway is back on the air. The community broadcaster was back at the helm of the studio for her Monday program The Fur Children Show. Such diversity of programming is what gives Phoenix FM its strength..

THE Sacred Heart Cathedral will be alive with the sound of music on Sunday. Songs to Remember is a fundraiser for the Doxa School in Bendigo and Bendigo’s own Alana Conway has arranged the event and will perform. The show will also feature the talents of Mark Vincent and Robert Ga..

Grab your diaries and phones and book in May 4. Groovin the Moo is back in Bendigo. Sure to provide a day of memories, Groovin the Moo is a sell-out event every year, details to follow...

By JOEL PETERSON The 2013 season is one of major change for first-year Bendigo Braves guard Jazz Ferguson. The athletic American crossed from the championship-winning Albury-Wodonga Border Bandits to the Braves this season, and enjoyed a stellar first round, named the SEABL Player of the ..

Kristi and Bernie Harrower have been nominated for three of the WNBL's top awards, to be presented at the Basketball Australia MVP night on Sunday. Kristi is up for the WNBL's Most Valuable Player after leading Bendigo Spirit to their first championship, and is also up for Defensive Player o..

Coach Ben Harvey and the Bendigo Braves are hoping they can go one better in season 2013, and the team is poised to make a playoff push. The Braves have arguably the best import combination in the league, with former Albury-Wodonga guard Jazz Ferguson and former SEABL MVP Ivan McFarlin retur..

Christian Grassman and Leif Lampater completed a longstanding goal on Sunday night, when the German pair took out the prestigious 2013 Bendigo International Madison after several years of trying. The duo lapped the field two times, and although they didn’t top the sprint standings am..

After being at the opposite ends of the ladder last year, reigning premiers Mandurang and last year’s wooden spooners Emu Creek will face off in this weekend’s Emu Valley Cricket Association Grand Final. The inclusion of Matt Giri back into Mandurang’s side certainly proved vit..

Two days after winning Bendigo's first national sporting title, Bendigo Spirit will be honoured at a civic reception tonight. The City of Greater Bendigo will celebrate the Spirit's achievement, to be held at the Foundry Hotel preceding the club's MVP presentation night. Bendigo is stil..

BENDIGO will get a taste of international chef Jamie Oliver tomorrow. Greater Bendigo council and Bendigo Community Health Services will celebrate by hosting their Community Day to welcome Jamie’s Ministry of Food Mobile Kitchen to town. The Community Day will run from 9am to noon in Bull ..

A photograph of Myers Flat in 1867 and the Hotel Shamrock as it looked in the 1860s are included in the historic Bendigo wall calendar created for the third year by history buff David Mulqueen. But for the cover of this year’s edition, he chose a much more recent photograph: Allan Done..

HUNDREDS of car enthusiasts will again descend on Bendigo in the coming weeks. Centre State Rodders will hold their annual swap meet at Lord’s Raceway on January 20. The one-day event began in 1992 and features more than 300 sites, as well as a show and shine of more than 200 cars..

There’s a new team behind the annual Town Hall Christmas lunch this year, and they want Bendigonians to know, it’s still on and still guaranteed to be brilliant. “It’s been taken over by the community,” Salvation Army community support services team leader Sharo..

At Christmas, we especially remember those who are missing. In March this year Bendigo lawyer MARIKA McMAHON’s daughter, Thomasina, was born with a complex cardiac condition. Thomasina died in October, aged only seven months. This week, Marika wrote a blog about what grief is like in t..

THE money raised from Bendigo’s Bloke’s Biggest Lunch was handed over to charities this week. More than $75,000 was raised at the event, which saw about 420 blokes step out and step up for prostate cancer research. The money was split between the Prostate Foundation of Austr..

The Bendigo and Adelaide Bank has announced a six-montlhy result that "should provide comfort" to customers, despite a 66 per cent downturn in net profit. The Half Year Report for the six months ending December 31, 2011, shows an after tax statutory profit of $57.9 million, down from $..

TOM Maher has spent most of his life dealing with land in one form or another – now he is selling it. Using all the experience and qualifications, Mr Maher has opened his own agency – Maher Real Estate. “I have the expertise and contacts for residential and rural land, includin..

THE Bendigo Bank has lifted its residential variable home loan interest rate by a whopping .15 per cent, higher than ANZ of Wesptac, a week before it unveils its interim profit announcement. The ANZ and Westpac were chastised for lifting their rates .1 and .06 percentage points in the past f..

THE Bendigo Bank has announced it will reduce its variable home loan rates by 0.25 per cent, passing on Tuesday's Reserve Bank rate cut in full. Managing director Mike Hirst said the bank’s pricing decisions aimed to strike a balance between the interests of all stakeholders – its..

BENDIGO and Adelaide Bank has joined the ranks of Australia’s A-rated banks following an upgrade announced by Standard and Poor’s. S and P’s decision to raise the bank’s long-term rating from BBB+ to A– means the bank is now rated A by all three of the world&rsq..

Bendigo can be a national leader in the changing world of energy production, green-conscious City if Greater Bendigo councillor Keith Reynard said this week. Cr Reynard, also the chairman of the Central Victorian Greenhouse Alliance, said energy production would change significantly in..

The final Bendigo Community Farmers’ Market for 2012 promises to be a jam-packed affair with some new producers and many seasonal regulars returning. First timers Nanette and Bill Martin of Tatalia Cherries will be introducing their cherry jam, cherry chutney and best of a..

Tradition is still very much in vogue at De Mill Fine Foods in Hargreaves Street. From supporting a local soup kitchen to baking Christmas fare, chef Liz Skipper believes in keeping old traditions alive. The cafe produces old-fashioned Devonshire teas, muffins, cakes and slices fresh da..

Bendigo ice cream maker Steve Virtue is amazed when local people tell him, after eight years, they still haven’t found his shop. Shame on them, they are missing one of Bendigo’s best food providores. The family business has been found and visited by the likes of Giaan Roone..

More than fruit and vegies are being home grown in Bendigo. Enterprising young Bendigo women are successfully home-growing small businesses. They may not be making their fortunes yet, but most are indulging their passions. Along the way their businesses help them make new friends, share tips an..

As a result of the current, everything-homegrown trend, our once roomy backyards are now accommodating fancy raised vegie plots, espaliered fruit trees and chookhouses. Chooks can be a great addition to your family, they make good pets for the children, they are great gardeners; aerating the soil,..

A degustation dinner at the Goldmines will have more of an Aussie theme with lamb featuring on the menu. The word degustation, according to Wikipedia, is a French culinary term meaning “a careful, appreciative tasting of various foods focusing on the gustatory system, the senses, high culin..

Eucalypts John Wrigley and Murray Fagg Allen and Unwin, $39.99 IF it’s all just gum trees to you, this book is not going to set your heart racing. But if you find yourself entranced by the way bark shreds off tree trunks to reveal creamy tender patterns beneath, or deli..

The Casual Vacancy J K Rowling Little, Brown, $39.99 THIS adult novel by JK Rowling reminds me of DH Lawrence and his major preoccupations of class and relationships. Little, it seems has changed in England or within the insecurities and ambitions of its citizens. The Casual Va..

The Black Box Michael Connelly Allen and Unwin, $32.99 Somewhere, someone clever is writing a thesis on why “cold case” became the hot topic for crime fiction. Michael Connelly’s latest takes his always-about-to-retire cop Harry Bosch back a couple of decades to the ..

Fiction: The Daughters of Mars Tom Keneally Vintage $24.99 Life seen from the vantage point of a patient’s bedside is often acute, terrifying and fascinating. In The Daughters of Mars two Australian sisters are nursing on the Red Cross hospital ship Archimedes as it patrols ..

Montebello, Robert Drewe Penguin, $29.99 Robert Drewe was a schoolboy in 1956 when the British detonated their third and largest atomic bomb off the west coast of Australia. Because the award-winning journalist-turned-novelist is “islomaniacal” – a lover of islands &nd..

The Secret Keeper Kate Morton Allen & Urwin, $35 A highly respected and well known book publisher once told me that people always underestimate how difficult it is to write popular fiction. To illustrate her point she said that over her many years in publishing there has been ..